Loose Feathers #555

Greater Sage-Grouse / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The rare Blue-bearded Helmetcrest lives in a remote area of northern Colombia, and its survival is dependent on the cooperation of an indigenous tribe that lives in its range.
• Songbirds may have different habitat needs as fledglings than as nestlings. For example, Acadian Flycatchers prefer mature forest for both nesting and after fledgling, but Ovenbirds move from mature forest to forests with a denser understory.
• This year's Republican platform denounces protections for endangered species and specifies that the Greater Sage-Grouse, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, and Gray Wolf should not be protected.
• Climate change may make much of the Arctic unsuitable as breeding habitat for migratory shorebirds.
• Hummingbirds seem to use size rather than speed to determine distance in flight.
• Bald Eagles and Ospreys are declining in Florida because their chicks are starving, possibly because of salt water intrusions into freshwater areas.
• Changes in ptarmigan breeding success in Colorado appear not to be linked to climate change.
• Cuckoos that migrate through Spain have a lower survival rate than ones that migrate further east. 
• Where Dovekies forage is affected by underwater geography.
• The most adaptable bird species are able to adjust for different climate conditions.
• Binoculars are a tool not just for watching and identifying birds, but also for finding birds to look at.

Science and nature blogging

• Coffee & Conservation: Know Your Coffee Birds: Elfin-woods Warbler
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: Split, Lump, Whinge, Repeat 
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Great Mill Creek Marsh Walk Photos
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Oriental Pied Hornbill: Female feeding male
• Extinction Countdown: Newly Discovered "Devil Orchid" is Critically Endangered
• Capital Naturalist: Cicada Killers or Cicada Hawks 
• View from the Cape: Shorebird feature - Solitary Sandpiper 
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Shorebird Flocks

Environment and biodiversity

• National Moth Week begins today and runs through July 31. This is an international event open to naturalists of all skill levels. To participate, find an event near you or try mothing on your own and submit the data.
• The proposed expansion of the border wall would be even worse for wildlife and plants (and people) than the current border wall.
• A researcher found that lichens combine two fungi with algae rather than just one fungus.
• Even in the best-case scenario, de-extinction could not bring back a species as it originally existed, so we should protect what we have.
• The African Queen butterfly is almost all female because bacteria kills the males before they hatch.
• The Iraqi marshlands have been named a world heritage site by UNESCO. 
• According to a new study, reintroduction of cougars to their former eastern range could significantly reduce traffic fatalities caused by deer.